Why Is It Called Tai Chi?

Tai Chi is for the Chinese term太极. Its correct Chinese spelling is Tai Ji. Tai Ji (太极) itself is a philosophical concept, upon which the martial art, Tai Ji Quan (太极拳) is based. Since Tai Chi is the accepted term in the US, we will just use this term as well.

The theory of Tai Chi is the core of Chinese philosophy and Chinese philosophy is the foundation for many branches of learning such as Chinese medicine and martial arts.

As a philosophy, Tai Chi theory studies the origin of the universe and the relationship between the nature and human beings. It goes like this: There was a state of non-existence, or the great emptiness called Tao (道) or Wu Ji (无极). A mass of Qi (气) arose from it and this state is called Tai Chi (太极) or infinite or existence. Somehow the mass of Qi started moving and separated into two: clear Qi and turbid Qi. The clear Qi (阳) Yang rose up to become the sky and the turbid Qi (阴) Yin sank down to form the earth. The sky and earth were in equilibrium and everything else such as human beings and plants came to existence. There were no storms, hurricanes, earthquakes but peace. Everything was perfectly balanced. When for some reason, the balance was lost, all disasters came. Here the key word is balance. Tai Chi gives birth to Yang and Yin and the co-existence of Yang and Yin keeps Tai Chi in perfect balance. There will be no Yang if there is no Yin and vice versa. If there are not yang and Yin there is no Tai Chi.

The martial art we call Tai Ji Quan (太极拳) was not called Tai Ji Quan until about 1850 when an assay by Zongyue Wang (王宗岳) was discovered. In this assay, Mr. Wang used Tai Chi theory to describe the art and to explain its effectiveness. It was widely agreed and the people started to call the art Tai Ji Quan. For English native tongues, Tai chi is an easier pronunciation.

The reason that Mr. Wang used Tai Chi theory is because Tai Chi, as a martial art, pursues the balance between softness (柔) and hardness (刚), relaxation (松) and tension (紧), slowness (慢) and quickness (快), emptiness (虚) and solidness (实), Xu Jin (蓄劲collect and store up strength) and Fa Jin (发劲abrupt and explosive exertion), defense (防) and offense (攻), mental cultivation (养) and physical exercise (健身). The balance of all the above comes from the proper movement of Tai Chi of our body called Dan Tain (丹田), located about 1.5 inch blow our belly button.

In other words, it is Dan Tian that drives the movement of our other body parts and the movement of our body and all the body parts is only the manifestation of the movement of Dan Tian.

Therefore, if one practice only the softness, slowness, relaxation, emptiness Xu Jin of Tai Chi, one is not practicing Tai Chi. If one is moving only his or her body or body parts, that is not Tai Chi either.